


Lesson Learnt

by JMount74



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Bullying, Gen, Name Calling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28914456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: Something is wrong with Virgil, and Scott is shocked when he finds out the truth. Someone needs to learn a lesson...
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	Lesson Learnt

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a mis-interpretation of a conversation o Tumblr.

‘Scott?’ He looked up from the book he was studying. John was standing in the doorway, picking his lip like he always did when he was worried about something. Scott frowned. ‘What’s up, John?’

John hadn’t wanted to disturb Scott. He had a big exam coming up – one that he hoped would get him into Yale a year early – but John didn’t know how to handle this problem. He was dreading Scott leaving, it would mean he would be the big brother and he wasn’t sure he was cut out to handle Gordon and Alan. The two were such a handful right now. Normally he could cope with Virgil. But…

‘It’s Virgil. Something’s wrong and I think you need to deal with it.’ The frown on Scott’s face grew deeper. Virgil had been a little more withdrawn of late – something he had been trying to get to the bottom of before it became more noticeable. He’d got nowhere, Virgil simply saying he was tired or had homework or some other excuse.

The fact that John was telling him it was a Scott-level problem said it was far more than anything Virgil was saying. ‘Do you know what is going on?’ John nodded unhappily. He’d witnessed it in the playground. It had been quiet, not too many witnesses, but he had seen. Virgil had gone off it when he realised John had seen and had made him swear not to tell anyone.

‘Are you going to tell me?’ John shook his head. Scott sat back. ‘You promised you wouldn’t say anything?’ John nodded again. He knew he had really broken that promise, but his fingers were crossed that not actually saying what he’d seen would be sufficient enough to keep his word. Scott nodded thoughtfully. ‘I’ll keep an eye out.’

They didn’t see much of each other in school, Virgil only just moving up and Scott and John sharing most classes in the penultimate year, but parts of their recess crossed over, as they did with Gordon, who was also attending the same school but a different area – he was still in middle school. Thankfully for Scott, he had only needed to take Alan to a different school since their school had both buildings in the one site.

Scott didn’t have long to wait. The very next day he made sure he was within sight of Virgil during all breaks. And what he saw both broke his heart and infuriated him beyond all measure. But this was no ordinary bullying. That he could sort out. This required much more delicate handling. This may well be beyond even Scott. Thankfully, tomorrow was Saturday and Scott already had a plan in mind. Dad would take Alan and the Squid to the pool for the morning, leaving Scott free to talk to Virgil.

Virgil stared at his food listlessly. It was one of his favourites, but he just couldn’t stomach eating it. This past two weeks he’d barely managed to eat anything – or keep down what he had. Gordon may have thought he was being helpful – he was not – by taking some food off him, but it meant that no-one had noticed he wasn’t eating. Or so he thought.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Saturday dawned clear and bright. Gordon and Alan were excitable as always in the mornings, and Scott was so pleased that this was one event that his dad had taken back over. Usually it meant he could have a lie-in, but this morning he was up early. He had a mission to carry out. Virgil, bless his teenage socks, was terrible to get up any morning, but this morning Scott was going to give him no quarter, not that he knew that yet. The creative genius of the family, he was the quintessential teen – late nights and later mornings if his muse got hold of him. Imagine his surprise when Scott was banging on the door for him to get up at…8:30?!?

‘Come on, Virgil, get up. We’ve got things to be doing, little brother.’ Said little brother groaned and pulled the covers over his head. The knocking recommenced. ‘Virg, come on man, we got places to be.’ Somewhere in his tired brain a frown and a thought were forming. Places to be? On a Saturday? Nope, Scott was out of his mind. But he was still knocking, so reluctantly Virgil got up, still huddled in the covers, and opened the door to his ridiculously alert big brother.

Now that Scott had a plan he was positively bouncing to put it in action. Yanking the covers off, he spun Virgil around and instructed him to get dressed quickly and come down for breakfast. Now that the door was open the smell of waffles was filling his room and his traitorous stomach let out a huge growl, causing Scott to laugh and ruffle his hair.

John was cooking waffles. There was a giant stack ready to go, and he was putting the last two on when Scott and Virgil entered the kitchen. Scott was always hungry – no-one knew where he put all that food because he was a beanpole – but Virgil, usually always ready for such a treat, looked a little green as he eyed the mountain on the table. All this for three of them? Scott busied himself getting plates and cutlery while Virgil grabbed juice, and before long it was just the three of them and a pile of waffles.

Scott dished out two each to start and conversation between him and John flowed around Virgil as he tried to work out how to get out of eating them. The syrup and cream didn’t help. Virgil sighed heavily and closed his eyes. He only opened them again because the table had fallen silent.

‘Virg? You ok?’ Scott was asking; and looking his brother in the eye and lying was a sure-fire way to bring down the Smother Hen. ‘I’m fine, just a little tired.’ This was not a lie and thus should have earnt a reprieve. But it was not to be, and Virgil resigned himself to Smother Hen Scott and his ministrations.

‘Open your eyes and eat your breakfast. I promise you will feel better.’ Because Scott knew better than most how tired not eating made you. Opening his eyes, Virgil saw his plate had been replaced with one waffle piled with banana and strawberry slices, no syrup or cream anywhere.

‘Scott?’ Scott sighed. ‘You have been neglecting yourself, my dear younger brother. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how little you’ve been eating these last couple of weeks. Your clothes are getting a little loose.’ Instead of making him feel better – even though this had been his goal – the knowledge that Scott knew made Virgil feel ten times worse, and suddenly he was fighting the urge to cry.

“Kid, if you don’t put fuel into your body it will shut down on you and you’ll feel even more tired and ill than you already do. Just eat half the bowl, ok?’ Virgil nodded. That first mouthful was hard, but once he had swallowed it was as if his brain and stomach took over. Soon he was on his third waffle – still no syrup or cream – and chatting away like he used to do. Scott and John shared a victorious glance. Stage one complete. 

‘Ok, I’ll clear up since John was kind enough to make breakfast, while you go get ready.’ Virgil frowned. Scott hadn’t been joking then, about going out. ‘Where are we going?’ Scott grinned at him. ‘You’ll see, just get dressed.’ Grumbling about the secrets older brothers enjoyed, Virgil made his way upstairs. Stage two was starting.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

The trio left the house and headed for town, but instead of heading for the mall they veered left and entered the park. It was full at this time of morning, but they managed to find a seat in an out-of-the-way place. Now was the time for talking.

‘Virg, did I ever tell you what happened between me and Ellie?’ Virgil shook his head. Scott’s longest ever girlfriend had split up with him almost a year ago, and at first Scott had taken it really hard. They had been together for a long time.

‘I’m not going to go into details, but do you know what I did to cope with the pain?’ Again Virgil shook his head. ‘I stopped eating. And for a while it worked, I felt a little more in control of stuff. Eventually, though, I collapsed running track, and Coach took me aside and had a chat about the importance of fuel.’ Virgil nodded. He could see where this was heading but was not sure how Scott was going to apply it.

‘You are not fat.’  
Well that was certainly blunt and to the point, and for a minute Virgil couldn’t breathe.

‘You are _not_ fat.’  
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

‘ _You_ are not fat.’  
There were tears and hands rubbing circles on his back.

‘You are not _fat_.’  
And there was hugging.

For a while the three sat in their group hug, holding their upset little brother tightly. Eventually they pulled apart, but Scott kept his arm around Virgil. ‘Ellie used called me bean pole, and she meant well at first, but the name still hurt, I can’t help being tall and skinny. It’s not like I don’t eat, right?’ Virgil nodded. ‘And you are built a little shorter than John and me, but you have powerful shoulders, you’ll be far stronger than me one day.’ He laughed at that, the idea that he, Virgil Tracy, would ever be stronger than big brother Scott Tracy! 

‘I don’t want to see you go through what I did. At first the name calling is funny, because the person doing it is someone you love, but it still hurts. Then, to stop the pain, you do something about it. You stop eating, because that is one thing you can control. And maybe you lose some weight, but it’s not a healthy way to lose weight, and you feel ill and miserable and suddenly, the words hurt more, so you eat less but the words hurt even more…you see where I’m going with this?’

Virgil nodded. Hearing that his brother had gone through something similar helped. And Scott was right, he’d not said anything because he loved one of the people taunting him. Scott reached over and wiped away a stray tear.

‘You leave that lot to me. In the meantime, I have someone I want you to meet.’ Intrigued, Virgil got up and the three headed over to the gym. Once there, Scott introduced them to one of the biggest men Virgil had ever seen. ‘This is Henry. Henry is going to help you, Virg.’ And with that Scott and John retreated to the edge of the room while Virgil nervously waited to see what was going to happen.

Henry Smith was a bodybuilder. He had stuck up an unlikely friendship with Scott Tracy after helping the teen out with some exercises to strengthen and improve his running technique. Scott had called him last night and explained Virgil’s issue, and he’d immediately agreed to help. He knew what it was like being picked on because of your size.

‘Hi Virgil, I’m pleased to meet you.’ He held his hand out and Virgil shook it, a good firm grip for a 14-year-old. ‘Scott, he’s been talking about you for a while, about you coming here and me helping you.’ Virgil frowned. ‘He has?’ Henry nodded. ‘Yeah, man. You’ve got footballers shoulders, you’re stacked just the right way, but he says you don’t really like sports?’ Virgil nodded. He’d never really got into them like his brothers, even John liked track.

‘So, I have a proposal.’ If he had been sitting, he would have sat up straighter. ‘You are built for weights, for body building. Now, I’m not suggesting like me’ – and here he flexed his not inconsiderably muscular arms – ‘but you have a good base for building muscle, and it will help you keep fit and work out at the same time.’ The next hour was spent with Henry going over a plan with Virgil and doing some sets. By the end Virgil had a bi-weekly commitment and an eating plan.

Virgil was hooked.

Stage two complete. One stage left.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Stage three was going to be the hardest stage. And it would require Alan. Once he had explained what he wanted him to do, Alan had been quite eager to be involved, for a nine-year-old he was quite savvy. Scott took Alan out alone on Sunday afternoon, much to the surprise of the rest of the family, and they practised the little drama they intended to play out. 

Scott knew that that would not be enough. Dad was back to being a dad to them, and if Scott was to be successful he needed his dad on board but not interfering until the right time. So straight after getting back Scott, Alan and Jeff had a meeting in Jeff’s study.

Jeff listened to the whole tale, and Scott’s two-prong solution, and he had to admit, his eldest knew how to think outside the box. Most would have just sat down with the culprit and told them off, but Scott knew his brothers very well. 

Dinnertime, and for today Jeff went for something simple. Hamburgers, fries and milkshakes. The food was piled into the centre of the table and everyone helped themselves. It wasn’t long before Gordon was sneaking fries off of Virgil’s plate, and Virgil started to slow down eating, just as Scott had predicted. Cue Alan.

‘Hey, Gordon, why are you stealing Virgil’s food?’ Gordon froze mid-grab.  
‘Oh, you know, just messing around.’  
‘But there’s plenty of fries on the table for you to eat.’ Gordon began to feel uncomfortable.  
‘I know, Alan, but it’s more fun to steal from others.’  
‘But you don’t steal from anyone else. Just Virgil.’ Gordon’s ears were turning red.  
‘Um. Sure I do.’  
‘Nah uh. I been watching you. You been picking on Virg.’

Gordon’s mouth opened, then shut, then opened again. He didn’t know how to answer that. Then his dad weighed in.

‘Is this true, son? You’ve been picking on Virgil?’  
‘I – I – no! It’s just fun!’  
‘Is it, though, Gordon? Virgil doesn’t look like he’s having fun. In fact he looks quite miserable. I think it’s about time this family had a discussion about bullying.’  
‘I-I’m not a bully! I’m not picking on Virgil!’

‘But you didn’t stop your friends from bullying him, did you?’ said John, very quietly. And here was the heart of the problem. Gordon thought it was funny, and although he had not participated in the small group who had been calling Virgil names, he had not stood up for his brother. And Virgil, soft-centred artist that he was, didn’t respond or fight back.

Everyone stopped eating and stared at Gordon. He began to go very red. Virgil was also quite embarrassed – letting everyone know he was being bullied for his size was uncomfortable. Jeff put his food down.

‘Is this true?’ he demanded. Both Gordon and Virgil nodded. Jeff pinched the bridge of his nose. So far he had been pretty lucky in the stroppy teenager department, maybe that luck was about to change. ‘Why, Gordon, why? You boys have always been so protective of each other.’

Gordon felt like he was going to cry. Why did he let his friends get away with picking on his brother, his brother who wouldn’t hurt anyone, even with words? He really didn’t know. He loved Virgil, and seeing the horrified look on Alan’s face, his only youngest brother who should be looking up to him, had been an eye-opener. It was like he was suddenly aware of just how awful he had been now his friends weren’t there.

Scott could see the moment of realisation cross his brother’s face – this is what he had hoped for. You couldn’t just tell Gordon, he had to work it out for himself, and by the colour draining from his face it looked like he had just made the connection. Scott wanted to smile, but held it in, knowing that it would give the wrong message.

The realisation of what he was doing to his brothers, because he could see that this was affecting the others too, hit Gordon hard. He slid off his chair and threw himself at Virgil. And then there were tears and sobbed apologies and promises to never to do that again.

Jeff and Scott shared knowing smiles, and Alan, not to be left out when one of his brothers was upset, joined in the hug, tipping Virgil off the chair in the process so all three were on the floor. This caused laughter, and they sat up, both brothers wiping away tears.

‘I’m so sorry, Virg. I didn’t mean it. I thought it was fun, but I didn’t stop to think about how you felt.’ Throwing his arm around Gordon, Virgil smiled the first time in what felt like ages. ‘It’s ok, Squid. I get it. It’s hard to stand up and be different when your friends are doing something, but thank you for the apology. It means a lot.’ Virgil looped his other arm around Alan. ‘And when did you get to be so wise?’ Alan beamed. ‘When I was born! Cause I got four older brothers who can sometimes be idiots!’ 

Amidst a sea of ‘Oi, watch it Sprout!’ Alan began giggling. Soon they were all laughing. Helping Virgil up, Scott righted the chairs and dinner began again, all arguments forgotten, all food eaten.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Monday recess and Virgil was drawing as usual when he became aware of Gordon and his friends making their way over. He sighed and put the notebook down. There were only four of them, but they knew how to be cruel with words.

‘Hey fatty, haven’t eaten your old man out of house and home this weekend then?’

Gordon, now horrified that he ever thought that was funny, stepped forward and stood between Virgil and his friends.

‘You take that back. You take that back right now, Hurst, or I’ll make you!’ To say Gordon’s friends were surprised would have been an understatement. ‘What are you doing, Tracy?’ Gordon glanced at Virgil and straightened. 

‘I’m standing up for my brother. No-one messes with a Tracy.’

Scott and John, looking on from the corner, broke out into wide grins. 

Lesson learnt.


End file.
